Fisheries Management Plan Assignment
The purpose of this assignment is to develop a management plan for that fishery that will direct
activities for the next ten years. A fishery management plan falls into three major tasks. First, you will
design and lead the sampling on a water body. Second, you will analyze the data you collect,
including performing a number of statistical and fisheries related quantitative analyses. This includes
reviewing the literature to find possible problems and actions. Third, you will develop your
management plan, which you will present orally during a stake-holder meeting and in a written report.
You will be assigned to a team of 3-4 students. Your team will be assigned a particular lake or river
we are sampling this fall. The team will work together in preparing for sampling, data analysis, and
developing a management plan, and presenting the plan to the class. Be sure to listen to your team!
Some people might have different ideas, and all might be correct. Team members should explore all
options, with some members playing “Devil’s Advocate” to consider all possibilities.
General procedure
Sampling:
• You will be assigned to a group and each group will be responsible for a water body.
• With my help, you will design a sampling protocol and determine what equipment in required.
You will be responsible for obtaining all the equipment and getting it ready for our field trip.
• In addition, you will be required to clean and return all equipment when sampling is finished.
• You will be in charge of the sampling. Watch and make sure you think it is being done correctly!
Data analysis:
• Your team will enter all the data into an Excel spreadsheet. You must follow the format provided
in the spreadsheet. You can sub-divide the data so each person enters only a portion, but you will
need to put it all together into one file in the end.
• You should generate data summaries, trends, graphs, and statistics documenting the change (or lack
of change) in the lake. Play around with the data – make lots of graphs to help you find interesting
trends. Making graphs also is a good way to find errors in the data – look for outliers.
• Make sure to use appropriate statistics and metrics from class (e.g., mortality, comparison with
statewide averages, predator to prey ratios, etc.)!
• Find out what you can about your water body: look at topo maps (topozone.com) and/or aerial
photography (e.g., maps.google.com) to characterize the surroundings of the water body.
The plan:
• Decide on your management objectives, considering all users and what is realistic. This is where
you may discuss things as a group, but different people might have different ideas.
• As a group, you will give an oral presentation (25 pts.) of your plan in a mock stakeholder meeting.
• Individually, you will write a draft management report (25 pts.) that will be peer reviewed (25 pts.)
before the final version is submitted (100 pts.).
• In total, this assignment is worth ~20% of your grade for the class. Take the assignment seriously
and do a complete and thoughtful job on your management plan. I cannot emphasize the
importance of following format instructions and including statistics and metrics discussed in your
book and in class.
The management report
• Your report must be at least 5 pages of text (more likely it will be longer), double-spaced, in 12 pt.
times or times new roman, with 1” margins. A title page (optional), figures, tables, and literature
cited do not count toward the total page count.
